Kalyani: Mumbai FC rode on a stoppage time strike from Nicholas Rodrigues to hold United SC 1-1 in a Round 17 I-League fixture here on Wednesday. The home side took the lead through Liberian Eric Brown just before the interval and held on to their slender lead till the end of regulation time as technical director Subrata Bhattacharya was eyeing a winning start to his new innings with United SC.
But in the first minute of the injury time, Mumbai's Yusif Yakubu was brought down just outside the United SC box and Rodrigues scored from the resulting freekick to take Mumbai five points clear of rock-bottom Rangdajied United FC. United SC remain winless in seven Airtel I-League games with 19 points from 16 outings. United SC enjoyed plenty of possession in the early stages with Brown looking dangerous but the former ONGC man was lacking support.
The first real chance fell to Shouvik Chakraborty after some fine work by Brown but the young midfielder put his header wide. Mumbai FC hardly provided a threat going forward but Anwar Ali had a half chance when Sangram Mukherjee failed to collect a corner cleanly but the defender blasted his effort off target.
Midway through the first period, United SC created their best opening as Asif Kottayil played Shouvik through on goal but the young medio once again could not test Mumbai custodian Kunal Sawant. There were very few chances for the rest of the half but United SC looked like scoring and the deadlock was broken by Brown. United SC debutant Adekunle Waheed played a lovely through pass for Brown, who found the back of the net with a fine finish.
The introduction of Ebi Sukore at the interval improved Mumbai's performance as they played with much more intensity but the visitors only went close from set-pieces with Sukore and Mohammed Rafi wasting golden opportunities from corners. At the other end, United SC did not create too many clear chances with their final ball lacking quality and technical director Bhattacharya made defensive changes in a bid to protect the lead.
In another match, Pune FC bounced back to winning ways with a dominating 2-0 victory over Mohammedan Sporting in an I-League Round 21 encounter at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex here on Monday.
Striker Thongkhosiem Haokip (43rd minute) and winger Gabriel Fernandes (54th) scored for Pune. The result completed Pune FC's first double-win over any team in the ongoing season and also ended their six-match winless run in all competitions since December.
At home, this was Pune FC's first win after four games which includes two losses and as many draws. Pune FC's last win at home was on November 6 when they had beaten the league leaders Bengaluru FC 1-0. The win put Pune FC on par with Sporting Clube de Goa on 28 points from 16 matches, but the Mike Snoei-coached team has played one match more than the Goan outfit. Bengaluru FC lead the table with 30 points from 15 matches.
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